


drifting away

by starkly



Series: you don't have to do this alone [22]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 20:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13489605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: Tony and Rhodey share everything. They have no secrets, haven’t since they became best friends in the Jaeger Academy, and that’s even before they started drifting together. So why the hell is Rhodey being so shifty lately? If it’s bad enough that Rhodey doesn’t want to drift with him right now, it’s got to be pretty damn bad. He just hopes it’s not friendship-ruining bad.





	drifting away

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2017 and posted at [dailyironfamily](http://dailyironfamily.tumblr.com/post/167794335510/day-22-pacific-rim-au) on tumblr. This fic was proofread before being posted here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Day twenty-two: Pacific Rim AU. My 100% self indulgent prompt for the list, I love PacRim AUs. Established Pepper/Tony with future Pepper/Tony/Rhodey, featuring the boys as Jaeger pilots and Pepper as a Shatterdome tech.

Tony and Rhodey share everything. They have no secrets, haven’t since they became best friends in the Jaeger Academy, and that’s even before they started drifting together. Tony trusts Rhodey with his life, and he knows Rhodey feels the same about him. So why the hell is Rhodey being so shifty lately?

“This is the third time you’ve pushed back testing our Conn-Pod upgrades this week,” Tony says, frowning even though Rhodey can’t see him over the phone. “What gives?”

“Sorry, Tony. I’ve just been real busy,” Rhodey replies, apologetic, and normally Tony would believe him, but Rhodey hasn’t said  _what_  he’s been busy with at all. “Next week we’ll get it done, I swear.”

“What if a kaiju attacks in the meantime?”

“Then we’ll test the upgrades on the fly. Stop worrying so much, Tones. Take Pepper out for dinner tonight or something. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Rhodey―” Tony scowls at his phone as the bastard actually hangs up on him. Fine then, if Rhodey wants to be secretive, Tony’ll just have to figure it out himself.

Pepper meets him in the mess hall for dinner, which is hardly a date, but she’s been working late this week too. Tony snags an extra brownie from the food line and slides it across the table at her as he asks,

“Has Rhodey been acting weird around you?”

“Define weird,” Pepper answers, taking the brownie anyway.

“He keeps putting off this testing. We’ve drifted a million times before, and you know he trusts your work implicitly. So what’s he worried about?”

“Maybe he really is just busy,” she suggests. She eats her dessert first, which is one of the many reasons Tony loves her. “Did you ask him?”

“Yeah, he says he’s busy too. It seems fishy, though.”

“Have you considered that whatever it is, maybe it’s none of your business?”

Tony snorts. Loudly. “Good joke, Pepper.”

“I wasn’t joking.” She licks the last remnants of brownie from the paper, then scrunches it up and drops it on her tray. “Just because you’re basically the same person doesn’t mean you have to actually share everything. He can have secrets.”

“Well I don’t like it,” Tony says, pouting. “How am I supposed to fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong?”

Pepper reaches across the table and takes his hand in hers. “Not everything has to be fixed, Tony.”

“Have you met me? Engineer, remember?”

“I know, darling.” She gives his hand a squeeze, then draws back and starts on the rest of her meal. “Whatever it is, I’m sure Rhodey will tell you eventually. If it’s important.”

Tony sighs, but he can’t help being worried. If it’s bad enough that Rhodey doesn’t want to drift with him right now, it’s got to be pretty damn bad. He just hopes it’s not friendship-ruining bad.

* * *

Sparring has never been Tony’s favorite. Rhodey was a Jumphawk pilot before they got tapped for the Jaeger program, and he’s always been in much better shape than Tony. Rhodey says sparring practice isn’t about winning and losing, it’s about being in sync with your partner, but of course Rhodey would say that, he always wins.

Today, however, his focus is off. Tony gets in a few good hits with his bo staff before backing off, looking at Rhodey with a frown.

“Seriously? Whatever this is, it’s throwing off your fighting game too?”

Rhodey huffs and picks himself up off the mat, resetting his stance. “Whatever what is?”

“Whatever’s got you so jumpy around me!”

Rhodey sighs, lowering his staff. “Nothing’s throwing off my game, okay? You just got lucky. Now come on and let’s get back to it so I can kick your ass.”

Tony just drops his staff, not wanting to fight if Rhodey is going to keep avoiding the problem. “Rhodey, I’m serious.”

“I’m serious too! Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re not acting like yourself!” They’re getting louder now, and a few people look over at them, but Tony ignores them all. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” Rhodey says, taking a step closer. “Which is why I’m telling you there’s nothing wrong.”

“So stop canceling our Conn-Pod test.”

“I’m not canceling them for fun, Tony,” Rhodey snaps, a little annoyed now.

Tony knows he should probably back off, but he’s already in too deep. “Then why are you running around like some guy sneaking off behind his girlfriend’s back?”

“What, you think I’ve got some secret other drift partner? We’re not dating, Tony.”

“Yeah, well, good!” Tony grabs his staff from the floor, scowling as he pushes past Rhodey out of the ring. “I wouldn’t want to date you anyway! Maybe I don’t even want to be your drift partner, if you’re gonna lie to me all the time.”

Rhodey doesn’t say anything or try to stop him, so Tony just keeps going, dropping his staff with the rest of the equipment and walking right out the door.

* * *

Tony really messed up this time. Pepper keeps pressing him about the Conn-Pod testing, but Rhodey’s spent the last two days off base and it’s probably all Tony’s fault. Definitely all Tony’s fault. He needs to apologize, but he can’t if Rhodey keeps avoiding him.

“Can you like, pull rank and get him to come back for testing?” Tony asks Pepper that second evening.

“You really want to drift with him like this?” she points out, eyebrow raised. “The neural connection will be all over the place.”

“That’s the perfect opportunity to fix the bridge, right? At least he’ll know I’m sincere when I apologize.”

Pepper sighs but says, “I’ll tell him we need to check the upgrades before the end of the week.”

For a while Tony thinks even that won’t be enough, but Rhodey shows up two days later, apologizing to Pepper and the rest of their J-Tech team. He and Tony finally suit up, and Tony keeps throwing nervous glances at him.

“Rhodey…” he starts, when they’ve got everything but their helmets on, but Rhodey interrupts before he can say anything else.

“Save it, Tony,” Rhodey replies, but he doesn’t sound mad, just…resigned. “See if you still want to apologize after this.”

Tony frowns, puzzled by the odd comment, but they’re putting on their helmets and hooking into the Conn-Pod and he can’t ask anything else about it now without their conversation being broadcast to the rest of the team.

“Whiskey Tango,” Pepper’s voice comes over the P.A. system. “Ready to initiate?”

“Ready,” Tony and Rhodey say at the same time.

“Pilots are a go. Initializing neural handshake.”

Tony closes his eyes, lets his mind empty. Pepper’s still speaking over the P.A., running through the steps of the test, but until he has to do something himself, he lets himself float. Drifting is almost like being underwater, but with someone holding your hand the entire time. It’s not a physical presence so much as knowing that if you close your hand, your partner’s hand will be there, always.

When he closes his hand this time, Rhodey isn’t there.

The flood of memories takes him by surprise. Him and Pepper, laughing in the lab with Bruce and Jane. Pepper in Mission Control with Marshal Fury. Tony working on schematics for a new pulse weapon for Whiskey Tango. The two of them stealing kisses in a corridor after a mission briefing, the first time he ever went out for a real kaiju fight. They’re memories of him but they’re not his memories―it’s like looking at a recording.

“Ranger Rhodes,” he hears from very far away, “do not chase the rabbit, I repeat, do not chase the rabbit or we will have to abort the test.”

He ignores it, the words insignificant when what he needs is to find Rhodey. These are Rhodey’s memories, and these feelings that are engulfing him, that threaten to pull him down into the abyss, they’re all Rhodey’s.

He tears himself away from the swirling memories, looking for Rhodey in the here and now. There’s a bloom of anger, of fear, dark and murky in the ocean of the drift, and Tony runs for it, reaches out. When he closes his hand again, this time he’s got him, Rhodey’s hand clasped tightly in his, anchoring him.

“Cut off the handshake!” he shouts out loud, hoping the techs in Mission Control heard him.

Seconds later the neural connection snaps, and Tony’s left feeling cold and alone, his hand empty. He rips his helmet off and gasps for real air, pulling himself out of the harness without waiting for anyone to come help. He runs to Rhodey’s side, helping him down, even though he feels like strangling him himself.

“You idiot,” he hisses, steadying Rhodey as he steps off the platform, but Rhodey’s not listening to him, apologizing on repeat.

“I’m so sorry, I tried to clear my head, I swear, that’s what I’ve been doing these past several days,” he babbles, grasping for Tony’s hand. “You were never supposed to find out―”

“How could I miss something like that!” Tony may be oblivious to certain things, but Rhodey’s feelings in the drift had never been clearer. “You  _love_  me.”

“Don’t,” Rhodey whispers, looking frightened.

“You love me  _and_  my girlfriend.” Tony’s not sure which is more impossible, that Rhodey cares for him like that, or that two people do.

“I’m sorry,” Rhodey says again, trying to pull away, but Tony doesn’t let go.

“Stop apologizing! It’s okay.”

“What do you mean, it’s okay? You can tell me I’m being a creep, tell me to leave you alone, whatever you need.”

Tony has no idea why Rhodey thinks he’d say something like that. “What are you talking about? You’re not a creep.”

“Last week you said you didn’t even want to be my drift partner anymore!”

In the silence that follows that statement, the door to the Conn-Pod is thrown open, Jaeger techs and emergency personnel pouring in. He hears the tell-tale click of Pepper’s high heels on the steel floor and says,

“We’re fine! Everybody out except Pepper!”

There’s some grumbling, but his expression must be serious enough that everyone leaves. Pepper hurries over to them, giving Tony a worried look.

“Is everything all right?” She looks down at Rhodey, who’s leaning against the wall. “Jim, you were barely two minutes into the test before you went chasing the rabbit awful hard. What happened?”

“I found out why he’s been avoiding the test,” Tony says, but he doesn’t say any more than that. This is Rhodey’s secret to tell, if he’s going to tell it.

Slowly, Rhodey slides down the wall until he’s sitting on the floor. Pepper frowns and goes to kneel beside him, taking his gloved hand in her own.

“I’ve been…struggling with some feelings,” Rhodey admits, glancing up at Tony. “Last week I figured out what they were and I didn’t want Tony to know. I didn’t know what to do because I was sure if we drifted, Tony’d find out right away.”

“What feelings?” Pepper asks, confused. Tony sits down on the floor next to them, putting a comforting hand on Rhodey’s leg.

“I really like you, Pepper. And Tony.” Rhodey glances between them, then sighs. “It’s more than just ‘like.’ So I panicked. And I’m still panicking now, because Tony is being really weird about this.”

Pepper looks at him, and he holds his hands up. “He means I’m not mad at him and he doesn’t understand it.”

“Why would we be mad?” Pepper asks, turning her attention back to Rhodey, confused again.

“Because it’s weird?” Rhodey says. “Every time I drift with Tony I…see things. I know all about you two. It’s inappropriate, especially knowing that I…”

“Love us?” Pepper says, quiet.

Rhodey just nods. “So I understand if you want to find a new partner, Tony, seriously.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tony says, incredulous. “Do you know we have the highest compatibility of anyone in the Shatterdome? It’d be idiotic to break up.”

“But―”

“Besides,” Tony keeps going, not letting Rhodey protest, “it’d be weird to break up as partners and then ask you if you wanted to go on a date with us.”

Rhodey just stares at him. After a long moment of silence, he says, “What?”

“This Friday, maybe? Dinner somewhere that’s not the Mess Hall.”

“You didn’t even ask Pepper―”

“You’re not the only one who can read Tony’s mind,” Pepper says with a slight smile, glancing over at him. “I know he’s had a crush on you since the Academy. We’ve talked about it.”

“And you?”

Pepper shrugs. “I think you’re a good man, James. I wouldn’t have anyone else protecting Tony out there.”

Rhodey falls silent again, looking at the two of them. “You two are absolutely ridiculous.”

“And you love us for it,” Tony reminds him. He stands, then holds out a hand to help Rhodey up. “No secrets in the drift.”

Rhodey stares at his hand, then takes it and stands up as well. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Pepper leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “See you for dinner Friday? Tony’s paying.”

Tony just grins and says, “So how often have you seen Pepper naked in my head?” just to see Rhodey squirm.

“It’s much better in person,” Pepper assures Rhodey as he sputters. “Now get out of here so the docs can do a psych eval, okay?”

“This is going to be one hell of a report,” Rhodey mutters, shaking his head. Tony slaps him on the back as he passes by him to the door and says,

“I’m sure Fury’s read worse.”


End file.
